Locomotives At The Arctic Circle

Locomotives at the Arctic Circle

MADE IN ROMANIA – POWERED BY LAPP

Softronic is a Romanian manufacturer of rail vehicles and uses the LAPP products in the production of extremely powerful locomotives. These locomotives pull freight cars filled with iron ore extracted close to the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The Transmontana locomotives are the most advanced locomotives in eastern Europe and are approved by the Romanian and Hungarian Railway Authorities.

Softronic locomotives are able to handle a load twice that of other rail vehicles and feature and system that saves energy when braking. The electrical locomotives being shipped to Sweden are able to haul up to 3,000 tons. This performance places them among the world’s most powerful electrical locomotives. The locomotives boost state-of-the-art equipment: a new metal construction (locomotive body), asynchronous traction motors, regenerative braking, IBT traction inverters, powerful train control and protection equipment, LED headlights and much more.

LAPP in Romania combined more than 148 articles for the locomotives in order to satisfy the technical conditions and requirements as effectively as possible. Particularly due to the extremely harsh conditions that these locomotives are to be used in, Softronic was looking for a manufacturer that was able to offer a uniform cabling product system with outstanding performance.

The single-core cables from the ÖLFLEX® TRAIN 331 family were used for the control cabinets. The quality of the silicon-core cables from the ÖLFLEX® HEAT 180SiF family has proven their worth in the areas subjected to heat.

Part of the sensor system was fitted with UNITRONIC® FD CP PLUS data cables, which are known for their extraordinary flexibility. The vibrations that are always present in a locomotive required the use of extremely flexible cables for power chain applications. What’s more, the polyurethane outer sheath and copper braiding withstand the harsh climate conditions present in operations near the Arctic Circle, not to mention the powerful electromagnetic interference that is typical of power electronics.

EPIC® industrial connectors were used to establish electrical connections. Some of the cables were protected using the SILVYN® RILL PA 6 polyamide protective cable conduit system and the corresponding locking components. All TRAIN products supplied by LAPP satisfy the requirements of EN45545-2 or even exceed this standard, meaning they can be assigned to hazard classes HL1, HL2, and HL3.

“As far as the design and wiring diagrams are concerned, the Transmontana locomotive is of the very highest caliber. Among other things, it’s equipped with a regenerative braking system, which feeds power back into the grid during the braking procedure,” said Softronic Project Leader Catalin Iosub in an interview with Economica.net. Dan Ionas, Head of Sales and Marketing at LAPP in Romania adds, “We are extremely satisfied with the way this project has panned out. It’s always nice when our projects, such as this one, are crowned with success. It was a challenging task, but our outstanding product portfolio and a highly competent team of experts enabled us to satisfy our customer’s requirements to the fullest extent.”

Over time, LAPP has built up a comprehensive product range for all rail vehicle electrical and electronic systems that satisfy the most stringent requirements found in European standards. These include ÖLFLEX® TRAIN cables, UNITRONIC® TRAIN cables for data bus systems such as MVB and WTB, ETHERLINE® TRAIN cables for Ethernet cable systems up to CAT7, SKINTOP® cable glands, SILVYN® protective cable conduits, EPIC® industrial connectors, and FLEXIMARK® cable marking systems.